The Central African Republic’s transitional parliament should adopt a draft law establishing a Special Criminal Court, 19 Central African and International groups said today. Such a court would speed up justice for victims of atrocities in the country.

The Central African Republic’s transitional parliament should adopt a draft law establishing a Special Criminal Court, 19 Central African and International groups said today. Such a court would speed up justice for victims of atrocities in the country.

The interim parliament for the Central African Republic is about to consider a bill to establish a Special Criminal Court to complement the work of the International Criminal Court in the country and speed up justice for victims of atrocities since the current conflict began three years ago. This is why the bill needs and deserves support from members of the transition parliament.

The transfer of a Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander to the International Criminal Court (ICC) is an important opportunity to achieve a measure of justice for crimes committed by the rebel group, Human Rights Watch said. Dominic Ongwen arrived in the Netherlands on January 21, 2015, to face charges of four counts of war crimes and three counts of crimes against humanity committed in 2004 in northern Uganda.

“It took 24 years, but I finally got to face down the man who threw me in prison,” said Souleymane Guengueng with a big grin outside the courthouse in this dusty capital. “He couldn’t even deny what he did.”

South Sudan should make an unequivocal commitment to justice for serious crimes committed during the brutal war that began a year ago, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The government should acknowledge that a purely domestic effort will not assure fair, credible trials given major deficiencies within the national courts.